Hey guys, I’m currently enrolled in your light room class and have a question, but I don’t know how to contact you. There’s a area that says questions, “your instructor access dates” but there is no further link.

Hey Jim hope all is good, just wondering if you are slowing the improve photography podcast down to grow your new income school brand ? I ask as the improve photography podcast seems to have got sporadic lately after briefly having 2 podcasts to one every now and then !?! Love the work and just wish I could afford your online course thanks for all you do for the photo world God Bless Regards Tristan

I just wanted to say thank you! I just purchased my first DSLR camera and this site has been invaluable. I have learned so much in such a short amount of time. The articles and podcasts are amazing, I look forward to taking a couple classes in the near future!

I am trying to sign up for classes on your Photo Classes website, but I can’t seem to get the buttons to do anything. I’ve used Chrome and Safari, and neither are doing the trick. Are you still offering the classes through that site?

Sir, This morning I bought and paid for your contract package. Using my credit card (Dean Byrd Photography). I made the purchase from my IPAD and could not do the download from your website that I was lead too. I wonder if you could email them to me.

Gentlemen: I purchased Nick’s sky replacement videos. As I downloaded them I was able to watch them. I would like to rewatch them but cannot find where they were downloaded on my hard drive, if in fact they were downloaded. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Jim

Hi, First of all great podcast series – I’ve listened on and off since 2013. BTW it’s “on and off” only because photography is just one of my hobbies and inevitably, after listening to a few episodes and getting “reinspired,” I’ll either run off pursuing something from your podcast until I hit a roadblock and get distracted by something else in my life or get intimidated and let myself get distracted by, again, something else in my life.

So I have a question: where can I find some good but relatively inexpensive photography workshop trips, mostly in the US? I know you guys organize a few, I think I even heard a free one in Yellowstone National Park mentioned? I wish there was a link on the main to all the upcoming trips you guys have going on.

But also, perhaps you guys are able to recommend a place I could find reputable ones for more of the beginner side of intermediate? I’m not ready yet for the really expensive ones (and I would be too intimidated anyway). I’m not needing/wanting any luxury accommodations or dining – I’m just looking to pack a backpack with granola bars and coffee thermos, sleep anywhere from a decent hotel (as long as its clean and safe) to even a tent , and just focus on the destination and improving my photography.

Here is kind of where I am coming from: I’m a pretty busy person with a day job – and while I can afford the National Geographic trips if I really wanted to but I’m not there yet skill wise, or passion wise. Plus I’m young and fit and don’t like being catered to when traveling. There are a thousand trips within the US that I’d love to go on at any point in time which usually amounts to me not going anywhere – I’d love/need one to focus on and plan around. I’m just a busy, lazy, easily distracted, procrastinating millennial 😉 but perhaps others can relate to some of this and would be interested in the low key travel photography workshop I’m looking for. And perhaps some less experienced professional photographers would want to do one to get some more experience. Or perhaps even the more experienced pros would be interested in doing an occasional “backpacking workshop” or wouldn’t mind having a few people kind of “tag along” on a project of theirs, perhaps doing a class or two in between whatever their main objective is? I’d certainly pay for that and would be thrilled to have a set destination and time, and a group to go with!

Just in case, I’m in Houston and would be most interested doing tours anywhere in the southwest and California!

I been on photography for about two years. I mainly been boing it for school. I enjoyed it so much so I decided to start my own business. My wife is strictly against me doing any type of nude. I recently did a photo shoot with a new model I met on Facebook. I told my wife and one thing she said that she’s not a model. She not a professional that she has heard of so she is just a person who wants to take pictures. She said a model is someone like Tyra Banks. She went with me on this shoot because she said wants to be apart it and help. We get there and I’m waiting on the model and my wife starts talking to a woman about her dog. Once the model gets there we say hello and I never introduced my wife. I was pressed for time due to the time was 6pm and the sun was going down. My wife is upset because of that and we have an argument. Around the same time I have an assignment to due for school which is figure photography. I tried to explain to her about the assignment and seemed to not even care. So I had not choice but to use my daughter and use none nude shots that still got me an A. Sometimes it feel that she doesn’t trust me. She also asked me if I saw the models’ pictures first. I said yes. Then she asked if there were any nudes. I told her that I saw one because it was in a group of all her pictures and there’s no way not to see, but I did see more than one as I scrolled down. She feels that I disrespected her by looking at another woman naked.

What is the best way to run my business and tell people if they ask for nude shots?

@Marcus – Yesterday was my 9th wedding anniversary. In 9 years my wife and I have never argued, which has made our family a very happy place. I travel around the world taking pictures, but I never want to leave for very long because I prefer being home with my family. I don’t pretend that the standards that have worked in our marriage are the only way to be happy, but we decided when we were first married that we’d be PERFECTLY loyal to one another and PERFECTLY honest. Your wife doesn’t seem to trust you and you resent that. Yet, you mentioned right in your comment that you weren’t perfectly honest with her. So it shouldn’t surprise you that she mistrusts you. It would be natural for a spouse to be jealous of a husband’s enjoyment of seeing a naked model. My advice is to be fiercely, ridiculously honest and loyal to each other and just drop the nude photography obsession. Wives don’t get jealous of you photographing landscapes.

I am new listener to your podcast so i don’t know if you covered about sharpness in photo before. I hear you talk about photo not being sharp enough. As a photographer who is just starting out, how do i spot if my landscape pictures are sharp enough or not?

I’d like to say that it has been a very poor decision to make your popup window run away and keep pestering the viewers as they attempt to exit your page. It is particularly annoying and it puts me off exploring your website further. Forgive me for being only negative, but I wouldn’t spend more time finding the good things.

Hey Jim I love you, but I bought a Nikon D750 after you raved about it! I love the photos from it. Went from a Panasonic gx7 mirrorless micro four thirds, which I really enjoyed by the way. This is the thing, now I’m tempted to follow you to Fuji, but worry I won’t get the bokeh I get from my d750 full frame that the smaller micro four thirds didn’t get close to. I know the Fuji is aps-c, do you get the shallow depth of field compared to the full frame d750?

Hi Jim Read your article on swapping from Nikon to Fuji – with mild amusement. I’ve recently done something vaguely similar – swapped from my Nikon compact to a Canon [almost] compact. I never thought I’d ever break ranks and go for a Canon, but this one is rather fund – it’s their PowerShot G1 X Mk II – a weird choice, and a weird cam, but it’s FUN. I don’t get why you had to go from one extreme to the other – I have a full frame (always have had – way back to about 60 years ago, when I bought my first Zeiss 35mm cam) – I have a half frame, which I use for entirely different purposes – and I have a “pocket” job, so I never get caught again without a camera, which is FAR the worst thing that can go wrong. EVERYTHING else has to fall into line behind that one. Including (apparently, now) getting a slightly larger pocket, to shove the G1 X into. No it won’t compete with your Fuji – but you admit that the Fuji doesn’t wallop the D810 – anyway, I’ve just been through a pile of competition entries on National Geographic (which excels in high quality photography !!!!) and one of the best photos in the competition was taken on a very “lowly” cam – you’d be well aware of the fact it ain’t the machine, it’s the operator that takes the photo. And like your reaction to the Fuji, I am thrilled with what the G1 X can produce – for what I use it for, it’s a wonderful cam – won’t go into the pluses & minuses here, but I openly admit it’s not a camera for everyone. I guess we each chase our own dreams. Anyway, I didn’t want a whole new kit – a half decent zoom on a compact cam with a reasonably large sensor was the starting point – a tilt frame was essential (fed up with the sun blanking out the screen on the back of the Nikon compact) – a touch screen was a big plus – and the optional EVF was also a plus. Oh – and I can even get a lens hood, which most compacts sadly lack. Fuji intrigues me – if I ever decide to requip & junk my Nikon full frame & half frame gear, I’d give Fuji serious thought.

I would love it if you guys would do a review of different companies who offer metal prints. I use Bay – like almost everyone else who prints on metal – but I know there are a million other companies that print on metal as well. I’ve tried a few out, but it seems that among those I’ve tried, Bay is the best. But they’re pricey. If there’s an alternative out there that provides similar quality at lower prices, I’d love to know about it.

I’ve got a couple questions. First, I’m using LR CC, and shoot everything in RAW on my Canon 6D. I then download images to my Macbook Pro, edit them, and then save them to an external drive. Should I convert them to JPG or DNG or Original when exporting to the external HD?

Second, why do photos that I round trip from LR to PS and back, increase so dramatically in file size? I’m send 20 MP photos to PS, and getting 100 MP photos back. What am I supposed to do with files this size? And, is there a way to eliminate this problem. Thanks so much for your website and podcast. I subscribe to both, and really appreciate your enthusiasm and free flow of information. Best.

Comment navigation

Improve Photography LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. We also participate in affiliate programs with Bluehost, ClCJ, ShareASale, and other sites. We are compensated for referring traffic.